Disclaimer: Unfortunately, my name isn't J. K. Rowling...which means that I own nothing. While you guys read, I'll go cry in a corner about the fact that I didn't create this marvelous world and these amazing characters.

I was almost to my compartment when I passed a compartment with Zabini trying to close the compartment door. I stopped at a short distance to watch. "What's wrong with this thing?" asked Zabini angrily as he tried to repeatedly smash the door closed. It kept hitting an invisible barrier and I had a sinking feeling that Harry in his invisibility cloak was the reason the door wouldn't shut.

Suddenly the door was thrown open and Zabini, still clinging to the handle, toppled over sideways into Gregory Goyle's lap. While Zabini and Goyle started to snarl at each other, I took in the occupants of the carriage I was sure that Harry had just snuck into. There was Vincent Crabbe reading a comic, Pansy Parkinson was sitting by the window sniggering at Zabini and Goyle, while Draco Malfoy was sitting next to a pretty girl with dark chocolate coloured curls. I recalled that her name was Astoria Greengrass.

Zabini finally righted himself and grabbed the handle to slam the door. He suddenly caught my eye and shot me daggers as he shut the door.

I would have kept walking except for the fact that Harry was now hidden in that compartment. I ducked down as close to their compartment door I could manage without them seeing my silhouette. I was just close enough to hear their conversation.

"So, Blaise," said Malfoy. "What did Slughorn want?"

"Just trying to make up to well-connected people," said Blaise. "Not that he managed to find many."

"Who else had he invited?" Malfoy demanded.

"McLaggen from Gryffindor," said Blaise.

"Oh yeah, his uncle's big in the Ministry," said Malfoy.

"—someone else called Belby from Ravenclaw—"

"Not him, he's a prat!" said Pansy.

"—and Longbottom, Potter and that Weasley girl," finished Blaise.

"He invited Longbottom!" exclaimed Malfoy.

"Well, I assume so, as Longbottom was there," said Blaise, sounding indifferent.

"What's Longbottom got that interests Slughorn?" asked Astoria.

There was silence as no one answered and then Malfoy broke it.

"Potter, precious Potter, obviously he wanted a look at 'the Chosen One,'" sneered Malfoy. "But that Weasley girl! What's so special about her? I can't even remember her name!"

"It's Ginny," offered Astoria. Her voice sounded bored.

"A lot of boys like her," said Pansy. "Even you think she's good-looking, don't you Blaise, and we all know how hard you are to please!"

"I wouldn't touch a filthy blood traitor like her whatever she looked like," said Blaise coldly.

"Well, I pity Slughorn's taste. Maybe he's going a bit senile. Shame, my father always said he was a good wizard in his day. My father used to be a bit of a favorite of his. Slughorn probably hasn't heard I'm on the train, or—"

I had had enough listening. I straightened and walked briskly back to my compartment. I was slightly annoyed with Harry for getting himself caught in a Slytherin compartment. He could be so nosy sometimes without thinking about the consequences. If Harry wanted to overhear what they were talking about so bad, then he could figure out how to get out of there without trouble by himself.

"There you are," said Dean when I walked back into our compartment. Everyone was already dressed in their robes and was just sitting around.

"How was that dinner?" sniggered Evanna.

"Boring. He invited Harry, Neville, Blaise Zabini from Slytherin, Marcus Belby from Ravenclaw and Cormac McLaggen from Gryffindor. He spent the whole time interrogating everyone and telling long-winded stories," I yawned.

"You better get dressed," said Adrian. "We'll be arriving right away."

I dug in my trunk and pulled on my Hogwarts robes; stashing my wand in my pocket. We talked for a couple of minutes until we felt the train start to slow down.

Dean took my trunk off the rack for me and then we all heaved our trunks out of the compartment and onto the Hogsmeade platform. The air was chilly with a damp feeling in the air. We deposited our trunks with the porters who magicked our trunks into neat rows.

"Come on, let's get a carriage together," said Evanna, grabbing my sleeve and pulling me after her into the crowd waiting for a carriage.

"Where's Adrian?" I asked, looking around.

"He said he had to go find the Head Boy," said Evanna, distractedly.

I mentally kicked myself for forgetting. "He's a prefect. I forgot he has to help oversee trunks."

We managed to snag a carriage for the four of us. I was thankful for the warmth as the horseless carriages made their way up to the castle. I was even more thankful when we made our way into the Great Hall. All I could think about was the feast waiting for us.

The Great Hall was as grand as ever with four long house tables and another long table for the teachers facing the four house tables. The tables were laden with gold plates and goblets while candles floated above them under the enchanted ceiling. Dumbledore was seated at the head of the staff table

I took a seat by my other friend Florence and everyone else sat around us. Once the flow of students coming into the hall stopped as everyone took their seats, I peered along the table. I spotted Ron and Hermione sitting together looking anxious and no Harry in sight. I looked over at the Slytherin table and watched Draco Malfoy mime smashing something. A sinking feeling in my stomach told me that Harry was what Malfoy had smashed.

I couldn't pay attention to the Sorting as I kept looking at the doors to the Great Hall for when Harry would arrive….if he even made it off the train.

A hush fell over the tables and I snapped back to attention. Dumbledore was standing with his arms open to greet the students but there were whispers breaking through the silence as people spotted Dumbledore's hand. His right hand was blackened and shrivelled, just like Harry had mentioned over the summer.

"What happened to his hand?" hissed Evanna.

"Some kind of curse I would think," answered Florence.

Florence had become friends with Evanna and me in second year. She was tall and thin with reddish brown hair that was always pulled into a messy bun. She became the prefect in our year for Gryffindor since the other two girls in our year were too timid to dole out punishments, I had gotten into too much trouble and Evanna was too wild so there weren't very many options.

"The time for speeches shall be later," called Dumbledore. "For now; tuck in!"

Right on cue, the food suddenly appeared on the tables. I loaded my plate with roast potatoes and chops and dug into the rich food.

"So how was your summer?" I asked Florence.

"Oh, it was alright. It wasn't very exciting if you ask me. What about your summer?"

I shrugged. "I mainly played Quidditch with my brothers. I went with Dean and his parents to London for a couple of days of shopping."

"At least you got out," said Evanna, stabbing a potato.

"Did your parents give you a summer grounding again?" I asked, fighting not to laugh.

Evanna flung a piece of lettuce at me. "It wasn't my fault."

"What did you do?" sighed Florence.

"Look, it's not a big deal," said Evanna, evasively.

"Obviously it is if you were grounded the entire summer," pointed out Florence.

"I…I kind of sent a whole bunch of letters filled with Stinksap to the Ministry."

"Evanna!"

"Well, even though they finally accept that You-Know-Who is back, I think they're stupid gits for taking so long to come to their senses."

"How did you're parents find out?" I asked.

"At the time I thought it was very rebellious…."

"You signed your name, didn't you?" I guessed.

Evanna blushed and I knew I had guessed right.

We spent the rest of the time laughing and joking until Evanna elbowed me in the ribs.

"What?" I asked.

She pointed down the table and I watched as Harry walked swiftly along the Hufflepuff table and slid in at the Gryffindor table by Ron and Hermione. It wasn't the fact that the Chosen One was so late that drew everyone's attention. It was the fact that he was covered in dried blood.

I watched as he conversed with Ron and Hermione and she cleaned all the blood off of his face with her wand. He just reached for a chicken leg when the main course disappeared and desert appeared.

"What do you think happened to Harry?" asked Florence.

While Florence and Evanna theorized what had happened, I turned to watch the Slytherins. Malfoy looked extremely pleased with himself while Crabbe, Goyle and Pansy all shrieked with laughter. Zabini smiled silently while Astoria just shook her head with a small smile. Other Slytherins that seemed to be part of their clique were also laughing and mocking the breaking of a nose.

"I think he had his nose broken," I said, turning back to my friends and reaching for a treacle tart.

"How'd you know?" asked Evanna.

"The Slytherins are mimicking breaking a nose I think."

Florence and Evanna all whipped around to watch the Slytherins while I tried to force myself not to look down the table at Harry. It was his own fault for nosing into the Slytherins compartment.

I listened to Dumbledore's announcements with only half my mind. The other was thinking longingly of my bed. I was only mildly surprised that Snape had finally gotten the Defence Against the Dark Arts job at last while Professor Slughorn was named the new Potions Master.

"But now, your beds await, as warm and comfortable as you could possibly wish, and I know that your top priority is to be well-rested for your lessons tomorrow. Let us therefore say goodnight. Pip pip!"

Evanna, Florence and I followed the flow of the crowd up to Gryffindor common room. Because we took from shortcuts, we arrived at the Fat Lady before everyone else.

"Password?" The Fat Lady asked.

"Witherwings," said Florence. "Someone told me before you guys showed up."

We clamoured into the portrait hole and I had a feeling of homecoming. There was a roaring fire in the grate, the squishy armchairs looked inviting and the lights dancing in the candle brackets cast a cheery glow over the scarlet decorated room.

Dean and Seamus came in right after us followed by a string of seventh years.

"Are you going to bed right away?" asked Dean.

"Yeah, I'm exhausted," I said, stifling a yawn. "Aren't you?"

Dean shrugged. "I'm not that tired."

"Well, I am. Goodnight Dean, see you tomorrow." I kissed Dean goodnight and followed Florence and Evanna up to the fifth year girl's dormitory. There were two other girls rooming with us but they mostly kept to themselves.

I changed into sleep shorts and a tank-top, laid my wand on my bedside table as I crawled into bed and promised myself that I would put all my stuff away tomorrow.

I forgot to draw my hangings the previous night so the sun ended up waking me the next morning. I was the only one awake but there was no use trying to get back to bed.

I grumpily changed into my school uniform of a white blouse, a red and gold tie, a grey v-neck vest, a black pleated skirt, black stockings and my black robe with red and gold lining and fastenings. My skirt was a little too short since I had grown over the summer but I hadn't told mum since we were still tight with gold.

I stashed my wand in my robes, slipped on my black flats, and stuffed all my books in my bag. I combed my hair, washed my face and unpacked my trunk to fill the time before breakfast. By the time I was finished, the other girls were starting to rouse so I didn't feel bad about leaving for breakfast.

There were absolutely no teachers down for breakfast yet but there was a couple students sitting at their house tables; a group of five Ravenclaws, two Hufflepuffs and, to my dismay, Draco Malfoy and his clique at the Slytherin table. I was the first one from Gryffindor down so I sat alone.

"Ah, does no one want to sit with the blood traitor?" taunted Malfoy once he noticed that I was alone.

I ignored him and picked up a piece of toast. I was surprised when he didn't retort but then I felt an arm sling around my shoulder. I was instantly on my feet with my wand pointed at what I thought was Malfoy.

It was Astoria Greengrass.

"Whoa, watch where you point that thing," said Astoria, putting up her hands.

I shoved my wand back in my pocket and sat back down. From my peripheral vision, I saw Astoria sit down next to me. Astoria wasn't the best but she was better than Malfoy. "What do you want Astoria?"

"Can't friends come and say hi to friends?" she asked, pouring herself a glass of pumpkin juice.

"We aren't friends," I pointed out, turning back to my toast.

"True," she said. "But I did shut up Draco for you."

I smiled despite myself. "Thank you."

"No problem," said Astoria, standing up with her pumpkin juice. "See you around Ginny."

Hermione had warned me over the summer that my OWL year would be packed with homework from start to finish and she wasn't kidding. By the end of the first week, I already had three essay's due, four different textbook chapters to read and a star chart to complete.

Despite the calling of the warm sunlight of a Saturday afternoon for me to go fly my broomstick, I packed my bag with parchment, quills and books and headed to the library to hole myself up until I was done the majority of my homework.

I invited Evanna and Florence to come but Evanna complained that the library was too dull to concentrate and Florence said she worked best when she was rushed to do her work so she was waiting until Sunday.

I was pleasantly surprised to see that the library was jam-packed with OWL students from every house who had the same idea as me. All the tables were packed except for one way in the back where Astoria Greengrass sat alone.

She had books strewn over the table top and her quill was flying across her parchment. Her long hair was tumbling over one shoulder and she looked deeply concentrated on whatever she was writing. I would never get any work done in the common room so I sucked it up and approached her table.

"Umm, can I sit down?"

Astoria glanced up, looking like she was ready to yell at whoever interrupted her but when she saw it was me, she smiled. "Yeah, of course."

She shifted her books around to make room for me. I gingerly sat down and pulled out the essay from Snape I had barely started. Astoria paid me no attention as she turned back to whatever she was writing.

We worked in silence like that for about an hour until Astoria suddenly threw down her quill. "Done!"

I looked up from my half complete essay. "Done what?"

"An essay for Slughorn. Ugh, it was killer."

I gestured to my parchment. "I'm doing one for him right now too."

Astoria slid her parchment across the table to me. "Here, just look at mine."

"You're in sixth year," I pointed out. "Our essays aren't even about the same thing."

Astoria leaned forward across the table. "One thing I've learned in Potions is that even though the Potions are different, you use basically the same ingredients for them with just different methods of brewing. So here, look through my essay and see if there's something to help you with yours."

I got the sense that Astoria wouldn't let me say no, so I skimmed through her essay and picked out things that could help me. While I was doing this, Astoria leaned back and started reading.

"There," I said, sliding her parchment back across the table. "Thank you."

Astoria closed her book and stuffed it into her backpack. "Anytime. So how much homework do you have left?"

"Umm…two more essay's, a star chart and some textbook reading," I sighed. I tapped my completed essay for Slughorn with my wand and it rolled up and sealed itself.

"I remember my OWL year…," she mused.

"Did you have a lot of homework the first week?" I asked, pulling out a new length of parchment for my Charms essay.

"Oh yeah, of course. But the key to never getting swamped is to never put your homework off. Even if you're dead tired, do the homework," she said wisely. "Otherwise it will keep piling up and you'll have no chance to catch up."

"That's what I figured, but I'm already swamped and Quidditch practices haven't even started."

"Quidditch," scoffed Astoria. "I don't follow Quidditch."

"Well, I don't mean to brag but I'm a pretty good flier. With Angelina Johnson and Alicia Spinnet gone, I'm almost a shoo-in for Chaser," I stated proudly.

"If you're on the Quidditch team, OWL's are going to kill you," said Astoria, a small smile playing on her lips.

I sighed. "I'll manage somehow."

"You know, if you ever need someone to look over your homework or if you need help, you can ask me."

"What?"

I was taken aback. She was sixth year Slytherin. Why would she offer to help me? Gryffindor and Slytherin were supposed to hate each other so it made no sense. Not to mention that she was part of that group of Slytherins that taunted everyone and acted like they owned the castle. And, I had only ever spoken to Astoria twice in my life. We weren't friends or anything.

"If you want, we can set aside a few nights when you aren't busy and I can help you with anything you need help with," offered Astoria.

"Ah—okay," I agreed before really thinking it through.

Astoria stood up and swung her bag onto her shoulder. "Great. Tuesday night work for you?"

"Yeah, it works."

"I'll meet you here Tuesday night around seven then? See you around Ginny."

She gave a little wave and then she was winding her way through the tables and out the library door.

I managed to complete my Charms essay, my star chart and a chapter of reading in my Transfiguration textbook before my brain felt too overheated to function properly. I stuffed all my stuff into my bag and trudged back up to the common room. Dusk was falling and I mourned the perfect afternoon I had whiled away in the library.

Evanna was curled up in a squishy armchair—fast asleep—while Florence was playing a game of wizard's chess with Hermione. I came and stood beside Florence to view their game and I couldn't decide who was worse at the game.

"Finally done in the library?" asked Hermione, eyeing my backpack.

"I did most of my work. I'll have to finish tomorrow."

"I warned you about OWL year, didn't I?" Hermione said superiorly.

"Yeah yeah yeah," I yawned, sinking into the nearest armchair.

"Did you just work in there all by yourself?" asked Florence. She made a pawn move forward and then she turned to look at me.

"Yeah, but I work better by myself," I said, running my hands over my eyes.

I don't know why I didn't want to tell Florence about Astoria exactly but I knew that if I did tell her, she wouldn't take it well. Florence took Gryffindor pride to heart so she vehemently hated anyone in Slytherin.

"What are you going to do the rest of the night?" asked Hermione after she had made her move.

"Probably force myself to do my readings," I said glumly.

"Look, don't stress out," advised Florence. "You don't see me and Evanna stressing, do you?"

I peeked around the armchair at Evanna. She was snoring lightly with a piece of hair lying across her eyes.

"I'm going to pull an Evanna and go take a nap," I said, getting up and stretching. "If Dean asks where I am tell him I'm crashing in the dormitories."

I flopped down on my bed, feeling like my brain was fried. Within seconds of snuggling under my warm blankets, I was fast asleep.

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